Trading up takes skill and a willingness to sacrifice. When my many siblings and I were children, we often organized times to bring choice possessions to offer in trade. I’m not sure if we all felt victorious at the end of the dealing, but that’s possible…for it’s true, “One kid’s trash is another kid’s treasure.”

1. Mullah Mohammad Fazi was the Taliban’s former Deputy Defense Minister, and a commander of the Taliban Army 22nd Division. He was wanted by the United Nations on war crimes for the murder of thousands of Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan.

2. Mullah Norullah Noori was a senior Taliban military commander, implicated in the murder of thousands of Shiites in northern Afghanistan.

5. Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, the former governor of the Herat province, had close ties with Usama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.

These five were traded for US Army Private Bowe Bergdahl, obvious deserter, and possible collaborator, who mysteriously retained his head for five years in captivity by the Taliban. Was his freedom worth the trade of these five top-level Taliban leaders?

No longer making kid-deals, I recently exchanged two dozen chipped and cracked pieces of Roseville pottery for one Civil War Cannonball and a soldier’s canteen. My husband was pretty pleased with his birthday gift that year. Sometimes my strategy is quantity for quality…but in the end I always get what I want!

Barack Obama has demonstrated that he is willing to trade. But his version of quantity vs quality is turned on its head! We can expect that his deals will always be bad for the US.

“…fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14/ESV)

The purpose of this blog is to encourage Christ-followers to see God’s Big Picture and be a part of it.